Singlehander Barnes Rescued, Boat Scuttled

SoCal singlehander Ken Barnes was safely
rescued at approximately 0300 this morning by the fishing trawler
Polar Pesca several hundred miles west of Cape Horn, after
drifting for three days aboard his dismasted 50-ft (LOA) staysail
ketch Privateer. Barnes had been attempting a nonstop
solo circumnavigation.

Circumstances at the time of the dismasting
have yet to be clarified, but both masts were lost. Additionally,
the steel Gulfstream 44, built in Malta to a Maurice Griffiths
design, suffered damage to her rudder, engine and a hatch. Barnes
reported earlier that he planned to scuttle her upon being rescued,
which has now presumably been done, thus ending his lifelong
dream.

With the loss of his masthead antennas,
Barnes' satphone played a key role in the rescue. In addition
to setting off his EPIRB, Barnes used the satphone to alert friends
back home in Newport Beach and later to communicate with rescue
personnel. As with all such Southern Ocean rescues, locating
and later rescuing Barnes involved a substantial cooperative
effort involving the Chilean Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Embassy,
the Polar Pesca and at least one other commercial vessel.

Meanwhile, singlehander Donna Lange is
simultaneously approaching Cape Horn, now approximately 150 miles
from the site of Barnes rescue. She also assisted with info during
the rescue process. Lange hopes to complete her rounding before
the next punishing storm system arrives in a few days. She will
then be on her final leg to Rhode Island to complete her solo
run. (See www.kensolo.com
and www.donnalange.com
for further info on both sailors.)

- latitude/aet

New Year's Day Sailing in California,
Pt. I

January 5 - San Diego

A variety of sloops racing on San Diego Bay

"It's a tradition!" Sailing on
New Year's Day in San Diego that is. Whether they were racing
or cruising, on dinghies, multihulls, the latest sloop or the
saltiest schooner, sailors young and old enjoyed the sunshine
and nice, steady breeze.

Three on the wire on the Hobie 20 Red Eyed Tree Frog, one
of many beach cats in the regatta

The classic ketch Flirt heading back into the bay from
a jaunt out past Pt. Loma.Photos Latitude/Chris

New Year's Day Sailing in California,
Pt. II

January 5 - Alameda

Meanwhile, back in NorCal, Lucie Mewes
reported the New Year's Day circumnavigation of Alameda: "Four
yachts and about 30 people clustered at sunrise at Island YC
for blood orange mimosas (from my tree!) and pastries before
heading on the high tide to Aeolian YC for chili and fizzes.
The three bridge tenders were waiting, and smiled at our 'Happy
New Year' shouts.

"A huge flotilla departed through
the raised Bay Farm Island Bridge along San Leandro Channel,
and snugged into the narrow channel in the ebbing tide. Lucky
for us the PVC tube 'marks' are visible so none in our fleet
were stuck in the mud.

"We made it through the dense fog
on to Ballena Bay YC. Some reports of cruisers missing the breakwater
in the fog are totally true and one boat mistook a tree for a
daymarker - temporarily. In fact, we had a whole group of 'RTI
virgins' getting tables together at the new Pier 29 (the old
Whale's Tale) because the buildings all looked alike in the fog!
We led them to the correct yacht club when we found them.

"Those of us who braved the 35-knot
gusts under the High Street Bridge last year were grateful for
this year's beautiful weather."

- lucie mewes

Racing News from Down Under

January 5 - The Southern Hemisphere

Fortunately, our 'racing department's trip
to the Southern Hemisphere for the holidays coincided with several
sailing events Down Under. Unfortunately, we're a few time zones
too far east, in New Zealand. But it's been great to watch sailing
on the evening news, right alongside the other Antipodean favorites,
namely cricket and rugby.

Catching up with the 'local' events, Kiwi
Graham Dalton and Unai Barsurko of Spain crossed the Velux 5
Oceans first leg finish line in Fremantle on January 1 and 2,
respectively. Separated by 16 hours, their finishes were among
the most
competitive action in the race to date. Both arrived in Fremantle
nearly a month after leg leader Bernard Stamm and second-place
Kojiro Shiraishi (Sir Robin Knox-Johnston finished third on December
29). Not to take anything away from the achievement of these
two who singlehandedly sailed through some of the roughest conditions
on the planet (you don't see us out there), but we can't remember
a more anti-climatic finish to any ocean race.

If there is a saving grace in this for
the so-called "B fleet" competitors - both are apparently
pleased with the results. Sailing the only Open 50 in the now
five-boat race, the 54-year old Dalton says he entered for the
personal challenge and is committed to finishing regardless of
where he places. Although his boat suffered considerable damage
to the mainsail and the rudders, Dalton believes he will be ready
for the second leg, which starts January 14. We understand that
his boatbuilder, Davie Norris, of Christchurch, NZ, was in Oz
awaiting his arrival. Meanwhile, Basurko, 33, is competing in
his first solo circumnavigation in his new Open 60 and continues
to learn about his boat and the harsh realities of ocean racing.
Despite numerous problems to Pakea and unfavorable weather
patterns, Basurko sees his fifth place finish as an important
achievement.

On the other side of Australia, the books
have also closed on the 2006 Rolex Sydney-Hobart race. David
Kent's 32-ft boat, Gillawa, set a new race record for
taking the wooden spoon (the last boat in) for the third straight
year. This year her crew finished in time to catch the New Year's
fireworks display in Hobart. The majority of the top race's top
silverware was picked up by Bob Oatley's Wild Oats XI
and Simon Kurts' Love & War.

Corrected time winner Love & War sailing off the Australian
coast.Photo Daniel Forster / Rolex

In a race that saw two dismastings, one
sinking, six other retirements, and several emergency crew evacuations,
the pundits have had a field day criticizing the race's existence.
So it's worth noting a comment by Geoff Lavis, commodore of the
race organizer, Cruising Yacht Club of Australia: "This
race was one of the better races that we've had. This race was
very, very good for sailing and yacht racing in general. It was
a fairly hard race, it had retirements, it had a boat sinking,
it had injuries, so there was drama. Overall it was a very, very
tactical race for the boats competing and it was a great result
for the Corinthian style of boat to take first, second and third
overall under IRC handicap. As Commodore of the CYCA, I am very
proud to be the representative of the club at this point in time."

- latitude / ss

Time to Clean Out the EPIRB Closet

January 5 - Planet Earth

If you still have an old-school 121.5 to
243 MHz EPIRB, it's time to upgrade to a digital 406 MHz model.
As of January 1, all Class A, B and S 121.5/243 MHz units are
prohibited from use in commercial and recreational boats (the
regulation doesn't affect the 121.5/243 man-overboard units which
don't go through the Cospas-Sarsat Satellite System). These models
had a bad habit of going off accidentally, resulting in wasted
SAR operations - only 1 in 50 ended up being a real emergency
- and have been replaced with the much more reliable 406 MHz
EPIRBs. Satellites will stop processing signals from the old
models on February 1, 2009.